The Portuguese watched his side negate City's attack - which had found the net in their last 61 top-flight home games - to claim a win and inflict a first domestic home defeat of the season on Manuel Pellegrini's men.

Branislav Ivanovic's goal in the 32nd minute of the match proved enough to secure all three points, but Chelsea - who beat City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in the reverse fixture - refused to sit back on their lead and hit the woodwork on three separate occasions.

Despite the narrow victory over the fellow title challengers, the former Real Madrid boss played down the Blues' hopes of lifting the Premier League title this season.

"There are two big horses and a little horse," Mourinho told reporters. "A horse that next season can race.

"We can win it if they lose it. Arsenal are working for many, many years for the evolution of their team. What we are doing this season is what Arsenal have been building to for years.

"We are there, but are not favourites. We are preparing the team to be one of the favourites next season and this is a very important step."

The manager was delighted to see his team produce such an effective performance, hailing the three points as a crucial milestone in Chelsea's development, he refused to label his side as title favourites.

"I think we played fantastic, to play the way we did is amazing," he told Sky Sports. "The best team in the Premier League - we beat them twice, today we were fantastic.

"We had the better chances to kill the game, the players played with fantastic spirit. When they had the ball we were very humble and ready to work defensively, when we had the ball we played and played really well.

"We are there, but not favourites. For the team it's very important, the feeling is fantastic feeling for them. Today we won because we were the best team, not better than them but today they were fabulous.

"It is not our objective to win (the title this season), our objective is to build the team and complete the formation of the players.

"I want to start next pre-season and say this season we are going to compete and be one of the favourites."